Gaona, the once �it girl� of BTV
Dumisani Ncube | Thursday November 3, 2016 18:00
At 33-years-old she retains her angelic looks and has maintained that bubbly voice that quickly reminds one of the Urban Flavas days when you would spend close to three hours just listening to her voice.
After some time without interacting with the media, Gaona sits down with Showbiz to share how she has been keeping up with various transformations in her life.
“I have been working on my new TV production company, Gaona Live, which I co-own with my two sisters, Olefang and Dimpho Dintwe. We have been setting up the company for the past year, shooting a number of film productions,” the Lentswe- Le- Moriti native said.
Gaona Live has productions airing on DSTV’s Zambezi Magic such as the Celebrity Q and A, with other productions broadcast on the digital platform YouTube on the Gaona Live channel. The production company gets commissioned to shoot various productions by their clients.
After spending nine years on TV and radio, she decided it was time she evolved from the media personality she was into someone greater. “The idea of venturing into business started at the time when I was in America in 2014. Upon enrolling for the YALI programme, I felt it was time I ventured into the business side of media, establish my own media entity,” she says.
She was inspired to establish a TV production company with her two sisters because their professions compliment each other. “Olefang focuses on digital media and Dimpho is experienced in production. The main objective is to establish a TV station”.nDespite producing content that is aired on a DSTV channel she notes her goal is to broadcast content on digital platforms as they are moving with the time. She is looking forward to growing into online radio broadcast.
She believes she has passed the phase of being hired and wants to also become an employer, especially of young women. “I still do freelance work for various clients, but I’m not looking forward to being hired since I now have my own company,” says the ambitious lady who idolises none other than Oprah Winfrey who started as a media personnel and is now one of the few black female media moguls.
Now that Gaona is all grown up and she is a businesswoman, she maintains that she is a lot wiser and smarter. She believes that she is in a happy space despite facing certain challenges in her life, and therefore looks forward to becoming an even better version of herself. “I have matured, I am wiser, I love being 33. I am not afraid of aging or embarrassed that I am now in my 30s,” she said.
Moving away from the business side Gaona continues to passionately work on an initiative that seeks to highlight issues of women and reproductive health, inspired by her own experience after being diagnosed with endometriosis, which is a chronic reproductive condition that leads to infertility.
On how she socialises, Gaona notes that she prefers time with her siblings, “I am a family-oriented person. I have a few friends. I prefer spending time at home reading or watching movies. I am not about the socialite lifestyle of attending uptown events”. As someone who claims to have matured, she highly believes in seeking mentorship from various respected figures that help her to be a positive individual. She is being mentored in various elements by the likes of Biola Alabi, Knight Ganje, Pascar Proctor and Ntombi Setshwaelo.
While talking to Showbiz she reflected on her hey days at BTV and RB2 stating that she misses the days but one has to move on, “I had the opportunity of presenting on big national events such as the budget speech, by then I did not realise how big that platform was for me”.
At one point she was the only broadcaster in the country to present three live programmes on a daily basis on both radio and TV. She did this on her radio slot Urban Flavors, Breakfast Show and also read news.
Comparing the new crop of broadcasters to her peers such as Tumi Ramsden, Gaona believes that every generation has a way of doing things within the broadcasting industry.
Despite not being on the mainstream media platform, she still has that X factor that quickly makes one to ask for a selfie with her and this was evident during the interview, as some individuals asked to take selfies with her.